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Published on 10/3/2023.

Comments/Board Business

Land Acknowledgement:  President of the Board Biggin read the District’s revised statement recognizing our area’s Indigenous Peoples as the original stewards of the land that College of the Redwoods occupies. 

We acknowledge that the land on which we are gathered today is unceded territory of the Wiyot, Hupa, Karuk, Mattole, Tolowa, Wailaki, and Yurok. We honor them and all neighboring tribes by our ongoing commitment to developing trusting, reciprocal, and long-lasting partnerships.

Swear in Student Trustee: Sybil Godfrey was sworn in as our new Student Trustee today! I know that Sybil will be a wonderful student member of our Board of Trustees.

Approve Trustee Goals for 2023-25: The Trustees spent a lot of time over the past several months discussing their two-year goals. At this meeting, they adopted goals that focus on accreditation, fiscal stability, advocacy, organizational culture, student success and equity, data influenced decision making, trustee profession development, the Foundation, and college presidential succession. I attached their adopted goals to this update.

Discuss Board Policy Relative to Responsible use of Artificial Intelligence for Official Board Business: As a college, we know that generative artificial intelligence will profoundly affect how we teach and work. The Trustees had a good discussion on how they could develop policy related to the use of AI for board related items.

Consent Calendar Action Items

Approve/Ratify Personnel Actions: I want to thank the Trustees for approving my recommendation to add new colleagues to our college community. Please join me in welcoming Maria Merezko as the CDC’s Custodian I (Evenings), Katelynn Towns as our Administrative Office Coordinator for Dual Enrollment, Eric Wright as a Student Development Advisor focusing on student/athletics, Ger Xiong as the Instructional Support Specialist III for the Del Norte Health Occupations, Kristin McCulley as an Evaluation Specialist in Counseling & Advising, and Sierra Lucky as an Administrative Office Assistant II in DSPS. We also welcome Natalie Yialelis as our new Assistant Professor of Nursing, Marianna Holmes, as an associate faculty member in Nursing, and Sean Wilson as an associate faculty in our Fire Technology Program.

I want to congratulate four of our colleagues for their employee change of status. Tino Romero increased his hours as the Athletic Programs Coordinator from .78 FTE to .86 FTE and Jencie Smith transferred from the Administrative Secretary II-HOCC position to Administrative Secretary II-Math & Science in support of Dr. Blakemore.

I asked HR to analyze the compensation of our senior administrators’ (not including the President) through the lens of fairness and equity following the recent compensation increases with the faculty and classified unions. The analysis found that the salary placements for Kerry Mayer and Julia Morrison (two long serving administrators) were unfair and inequitable compared to another senior staff member. As a remedy, as part of the administrator’s performance review process, I agreed to increase Kerry and Julia’s salary placement by one step—from 136/13 to 136/14. The estimated cost of this adjustment is a combined $9,800 annually. Julia’s one step increase of $4,900 will come from the general fund. Kerry’s one step increase of $4,900 will come from non-general funds.

With this board agenda item, we say goodbye to Brynn Allen who will leave her Administrative Secretary II position on September 8, 2023.

Approve President’s Goals for 2023-25: The Board of Trustees approved my two-year goals. I created my goals to support the Board’s strategic goals noted in agenda number 2.7. My goals will focus on leading our accreditation efforts, ensuring fiscal stability, enhancing student success and completion, nurturing the president and board relationship, aligning our institutional planning with our Education Master Plan, Facilities Master Plan, and the accreditation processes, continuing innovation and professional development efforts, enhancing communication, supporting our DEIA efforts, and continuing to collaborate with Cal Poly Humboldt and our local communities.

Action/Discussion Items

Approve Monthly Financial Status Report:  I want to call your attention to the fact that our transfer out allocation increased from the past year because we are going to start servicing the $7,605,000 loan for the community stadium upgrade and residence hall design projects. So, in this report, we mentioned that the $1,414,720 in total transfers out are comprised of $90,000 to the Child Development Center, $74,720 to the Shively Farm, $750,000 to the OPEB fund, and $500,000 to the Debt Service Fund. The report also showed a projected 2023-24 Unrestricted General Fund ending fund balance of $8,412,678 or 19.4%.

Approve Final Budget: I am pleased to say that the Board approved our Final 2023-24 budget. I want to thank Julia Morrison and her staff for creating a final budget that minimizes operational costs as much as possible, achieves operational efficiencies, continues to strengthen the ending fund balance, and takes care of all our employees. I attached the Final Budget to this update for your information. There is a lot of information in the final budget document, so let me provide some highlights for you.

• The fund balance budget is estimated to decrease by $853,722 for 2023-24 from 25% to 19.4%.
• The fund balance is above the 5% minimum required by the ACCJC; however, our Board Policy 2800 Fund Reserve, calls for the District to maintain unrestricted, uncommitted general fund reserve at no less than 5% of unrestricted general fund expenses including transfers. Additionally, the District shall target to maintain an unrestricted, uncommitted general fund reserve balance that equals, at a minimum, greater than or equal to two months of total General Fund operating expenditures. For CR, this equals an Unrestricted General Fund balance of approximately 24%.
• As any employee position becomes vacant, the Executive Cabinet considers whether the position can be reduced or restructured for savings. All temporary employee requests are also considered by the Executive Cabinet to assess the critical need of the request as well as available funding options. Any potential savings will be reflected in the 2023-24 Position Inventory.
• The 2023-24 Final Budget will be reported to the State Chancellor’s Office by October 10, 2023.

Informational Reports

Accreditation: Dr. Peter Blakemore, our Accreditation Liaison Officer, provided a great written report on our accreditation efforts. I want to share his full report with you below. It is important that you are aware of our accreditation work.

Background on Process

The current iteration of College of the Redwoods’ institutional self-evaluation process began around the time the Midterm Report was delivered to the ACCJC in October of 2021. An Accreditation Steering Committee of about 30 people was created and divided into 4 groups, with each assigned to work on the 4 Standards in preparation for the 2024 ISER. Meeting monthly and bi-weekly to review the standards and identify evidence for the report, the groups amassed a large amount of evidence, which was placed in open-source, accessible web pages on the CR website. Much of this work had to be performed remotely due to the exigencies of the continuing pandemic and its variants. Even so, by the fall of 2022 substantial headway had been made on many of the standards and some drafting of evidence descriptions had already begun.

Changes in leadership positions at the college led to a lapse of regular meetings for a short period in fall of 2022, but these resumed in the winter of 2023 and with the appointment of Sean Thomas as lead writer. During the spring of 2023, it became clear that some regrouping and enlarging of accreditation oversight was necessary. Though a smaller Accreditation Oversight Committee continued to meet regularly, many on the committee believed we needed more people from more constituencies across the college to participate. In short, engaging in the process of self-evaluation led to the realization that a change in process would make for a more complete 2024 ISER. President Flamer responded to inquiries along these lines and decided that a reconstituted Accreditation Oversight Committee would benefit us as we moved into the later stages of creating the ISER. President Flamer requested that I become the Accreditation Liaison Officer and I agreed to act in this role. I also met with CR’s Commission Liaison, ACCJC Vice-President Kevin Bontenbal, and discussed best practices as well as changes to the ACCJC’s expectations for ISER lengths and kinds of evidence to present. During this meeting, it was made clear to me that the Commission no longer wants institutions under its purview to put “everything including the kitchen sink” into the self-evaluations.

The Current Accreditation Oversight Committee and Concluding Process

The reorganized Accreditation Oversight Committee includes 20 College of the Redwoods employees from across constituencies, campuses, and divisions. It includes the president, vice presidents, deans and directors, faculty, associate faculty, support staff and CSEA representatives, as well as members of the Management Council. Tri-chaired by Crystal Morse, Kerry Mayer, and Sean Thomas, the committee began by meeting weekly in July and reviewing the ACCJC documents and recommended ISER process, and it accordingly broke into smaller groups to interpret each standard prior to assessing the material that had been drafted during the preceding year and a half. Identifying additional evidence and reviewing existing materials within the drafts, the teams worked through all the standards by mid-August. Thus, the AOC has spread knowledge of the process and ACCJC requirements and generated more material to include in the revision and review process.

During our recent Convocation, the administration asked the whole college to engage in feedback on the material evidence and drafts by holding listening sessions, including an accreditation overview and 4 separate meetings devoted to each of the standards. The meetings were extremely well-attended, and members of the AOC leadership are currently reviewing the detailed notes taken during these Convocation sessions. VP Crystal Morse and I met last week with the President and Vice-President of the Academic Senate to determine the most effective method for the Senate to work on providing feedback. VP Morse and I will also attend this Friday’s Academic Senate meeting to review the standards and assist the Senate in developing the best way forward. The Institutional Effectiveness Committee and AOC leadership will also be meeting in September and October to discuss possible improvements generated by the self-evaluation. Multiple sessions are being scheduled with all constituencies to work through review and feedback toward final revisions to the draft ISER, which is due in mid-December of this year. As we engage this final stage of the process, the AOC is confident that the whole college will be able to inquire into the processes and values that uphold the vision set forth in CR’s Mission Statement and 10-year Education Master Plan. We are confident that we’ve reviewed the processes that keep our college functioning and improving. In short, we know what we’re doing well, and we’ve found a few things we might do better. We also believe that when the Board of Trustees receives the draft for its final reviews, you will have a document you can be proud of.

Above all, the 2024 ISER process has shown us that being more inclusive will benefit us all in the long run. Sharing the process—and the work—with our colleagues is the standard by which we should judge ourselves. The pandemic obviously made that harder, but many of us who have been intimately involved in self-studies over the past 20 years know that this is a long road and we have been getting better and better at it from one report to the next, which is as it should be. The commission’s response to our 2017 ISER was quite favorable, and we will be building on that going forward.

Counseling and Advising Program Report: The Trustees asked that we provide a report on our counseling and advising program work. I want to thank Jennifer Bailey and Crystal Morse for explaining what our Counseling and Advising department does and what they see as the strategic future of the division. I attached their presentation to this email as information. I encourage you to look at the presentation. I believe that you’ll be impressed with the work of our counselors and advisors.

Organizational Reports:

I want to thank the Academic Senate for providing a written report for the Board.

Academic Senate: President Dr. Herrera's written report noted that:

• The Academic Senate will discuss the following goals: Accessibility and Inclusion; Robust Discussion of Guided Pathways; Wrap-Around Experiences for Students; 10+1 and Shared Governance Review and Application; Accreditation Support; and Strategic Planning+1.
• The Senate Executive Committee members highlighted areas for further review and discussion regarding the goals. These included, how accessibility goals will be actualized and operationalized, that the Guided Pathways Committee (GPC) Senate appointees will provide ongoing reports to Senate and provide feedback to the GPC.
• The 10+1 discussion revealed gaps in a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities in relation to the “1” in 10+1 and requested clarification from the administrative leadership on how the Board and Senate consult on, “agreed upon activities”. 
• Strategic Planning will include furthering a previous recommendation for the district to form an EMP Oversight Committee to track actions across the district that support the specific EMP initiatives over time. This recommendation was made last year, and the Senate would appoint Senate representatives to this committee once, and if, it is created.
• The Senate will provide feedback to the Accreditation Oversight Committee on Sept. 1, regarding specific ISER standards delineated in the plan, and chosen by the AOC for Senate input. This ensures that the feedback will be provided in a timely manner and with greater efficacy.
• There are more faculty than committees and the Senate leadership is making recommendations within the Senate to help create more openings for faculty, while exploring other means to resolve this structural complication. Ideas were discussed at Senate Exec. and what ways the Constitution can be modified to create more room for faculty engagement.

CRFO: President Haggerty mentioned work the union leadership was involved with over the summer including SARTCO, POCR, convocation planning, and negotiations. I refer you to the minutes of this Board meeting for details of her verbal report.

CSEA: President Engman congratulated Josh Stanley on receiving the Classified Employee of the Year Award and Crystal Morse on the Kathryn G. Smith Leadership Award. I refer you to the minutes of this Board meeting for details of her verbal report.

Administrative Reports

President/Superintendent's Report: My written report included a recognition of Professor Wendy Riggs. Wendy not only excels in teaching but also holds a distinguished position as a former president and esteemed member of the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) where she was recently honored with the HAPS President's Medal. It was pleasure to share a link to the Facebook post about Professor Riggs bit.ly/3P4QCdc

I mentioned that we will host the "Festejando Nuestra Comunidad" celebration of unity, culture on September 16, 2023, I sent submitted letters to the Legislature's Appropriations Committee in support of Assembly Bill (AB) 1400 (Bryan) and opposing Assembly Bill 1699 (McCarty) and Assembly Bill 689 (Carrillo), and Associate Professors Abigail Queen and Austin Roberts were selected to serve on the Accreditation Oversight Committee.  I also provided the 2023-25 goals for Institutional Effectiveness & Research as well as the two-year goals for Human Resources.

In my verbal comments I mentioned that Rory Johnson, Kerry Mayer, Sutter Coast CEO Mitch Hanna, and Del Norte Schools Superintendent Jeff Harris will have an initial conversation related to developing a healthcare training center in Del Norte tomorrow (Wednesday). We will involve a wider variety of potential community partners in future discussions. I also mentioned that Molly Blakemore, Nursing Director Jessica Howard, and Jennifer Bailey will meet with students this Thursday and next Wednesday to talk about how we are transitioning our nursing application process from the lottery system to a competitive application process. They will also answer any questions students may have. Furthermore, Molly is working on a two-page FAQ that we will make available to students and faculty as soon as possible.

Vice President of Administrative Services Report: Julia provided her 2023-25 goals and noted that she scheduled two budget open forums to discuss the 2023-24 Final Budget and Multi-year Forecast. Here are the dates and times.

Date/Time:  September 11, 2023 3:00-4:00 PM

Zoom Link:  https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/81231967403

Meeting ID:  812 3196 7403

Dial:  1-669-900-6833

Date/Time:  September 14, 2023 9:30-10:30 AM

Zoom Link:  https://redwoods-edu.zoom.us/j/87464640455

Meeting ID:  874 6464 0455

Dial:  1-669-900-6833

In her verbal comments Julia welcomed Sybil Godfrey as our new Student Trustee and committed to helping Sybil and ASCR on budget-related items.

Vice President of Instruction Report: In Lisa’s written report, she provided her 2023-25 goals and provided good news about our healthcare pass rates. She noted that the pass rates for the 2022-23 cohorts were:

Dental Assisting: 100%

RN: 96.88%

LVN Del Norte: 92.31%

LVN Eureka: 100%

These pass rates are trending upward for the college and surpass state and national averages of approximately 85% for RNs and 83% for LVNs. Reports from graduates and local employers indicate that our graduates are finding employment in their fields quickly. Providence hired 40 of the graduates from our last RN graduating class. Kudos to all the faculty, staff, and managers who supported the success of our Health Occupations students.

Interim Vice President of Student Services Report: Crystal provided her goals for 2023-25 and thanked Jennifer Bailey (Student Development Manager) and Colin Trujillo (Director of EOPS/LRC/ASC) for leading the moderated discussion with student panelists as our Convocation 2023 keynote address. Crystal’s verbal comments included welcoming Sybil Godfrey as our new Student Trustee and thanking the Board for approving new student services personnel.

Interim Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives: Kerry noted her 2023-25 goals and noted that CR participated in the development of a National Science Foundation grant opportunity focused on "Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity" which has recently been selected for funding. Kerry welcomed Sybil Godfrey as our new Student Trustee and mentioned that several of our Tribal partners will be included in the initial conversation related to a potential healthcare training center in Del Norte.

Executive Director of College Advancement and the Foundation: Marty provided his 2023-25 goals. Marty noted that he is in the process of closing the sports auction. He also mentioned several projects he is working on this semester.

Approve a Trustee Request to Place an Item on a Future Agenda or Direct Staff to Give a Regular Report: The Board directed me to provide a report on the cost of providing health benefits to the Trustees.